Screen cap: an aquarium seal washed into a parking lot.

[Fridays Child]

[Corgigal]

1. and cops shot it twice in the head

because they had no place to put the seal.

[scarletlib]

13. This affects me deeply because of our responsibility to these

animals. We make them our captives--then when this happens they suffer because of their captivity.

My heart is breaking for all of Mother Nature's Creatures human and animal in their suffering.

[FreedomAngel82]

17. Seriously????

Oh my God.... :cry:

[SammyWinstonJack]

22. Oh no!

:cry:

[smbolisnch]

25. how could they do that??

:cry:

[Proud2BAmurkin]

2. They just shot it

CNN reported

[Beaverhausen]

18. Shot it? Jesus christ. They can live out of water can't they?

fuck

[Kenroy]

3. sadly...

the police just shot the seal twice in the head. There was no place to take him, no way to keep him alive, and he was suffering.

[leftchick]

20. fuck

:cry:

[TroglodyteScholar]

4. Cops shot it in the head twice...

Said there was nowhere it could be taken to, so they had to put it out of its misery.

Sad, I suppose, but there are a lot of humans who need help too.

[MissB]

5. How heartbreaking.

Damn.

[Greylyn58]

6. He just said the police shot the seal twice in the head

to put it out of its misery. Said there was no one to help it.

I'm sick! For the people, for the animals...for the homes.

[TomInTib]

23. Me too. Our dog could be your dog's twin...

Seamus (aka "The Mighty S") who used to have a collar like that that we called his "Disco Larry" - nestled among his golden chest-hairs when his tags were attached.

I was appalled with the evacuees who didn't take their critters with them...kind of like leaving your kids behind. I actually drove over the (now destroyed) causeway on I-10 moving from Miami to SF with my critters.

But - sadly - I actually do understand why the police shot the seal. It was the kindest thing that they could do. We do need to save the people,but I feel so sorry for the critters who put their trust in us and were abandoned.

[Greylyn58]

28. So glad you and your animals made it out safely

I've been seeing all the pictures of the people trying to escape the flooding and it reminded me of all the pictures I saw in 1999 when Hurricane Floyd hit NC. It flooded the Eastern part of the state, dislodging coffins, killings a lot of animals(hog farms-really disgusting)washed away some towns to the point of that they never rebuilt. The people of LA, MS and AL have a long road to hoe.

I really feel for all of them.

[TomInTib]

33. Thank you for your sweet response....

but we are actually safely in California (unless there is an earthquake anytime soon). But thank you. Your dog is a beauty - our lad's doppelganger - and you are a good soul.

[Sanity Claws]

7. Where did this happen?

[Fridays Child]

8. In New Orleans.

[CottonBear]

9. Oh no! Is that the Aquarium of the Americas?

I knew there was trouble whenthere was no news early on. What has happened at the zoo? I'm afraid to see.
:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

[Fridays Child]

10. I don't know. Is that by the waterfront?

Three seals were washed out of the aquarium. All three have died. :(

[CottonBear]

11. Yes, on the river. The Audubon Park Zoo is on the river too.

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

[theHandpuppet]

12. As I recall, I believe animals from the Audubon Park Zoo...

... were evacuated before the hurricane hit. I can't confirm that, though.

[Field Of Dreams]

14. I thought it was in Mississippi...

on the waterfront where Anderson Cooper was reporting from.

[ScreamingMeemie]

15. A spokesperson said the animals were evacuated safely with the very

little loss...that a few flamingos had died. Poor birds. :(

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

16. :(

[CottonBear]

19. Oh good. I love that zoo. I love pink flamingos too.

I had a great post on pink flamingos once. I met BOSSHOG in that post. He's a pink flamingo fan too! I hope his house is OK. My hubby is from NOLA and Slidell. We had a great date at the zoo once!

[DoYouEverWonder]

26. The Aquarium of the Americas is gone

Nothing much left except for some empty tanks.

[CottonBear]

27. Oh god no.

Those poor animals. I hope they find the penguins and some of the others.

The sharks, snakes and giant alligator snapping turtles will be dangerous if they survive.

How did you find out? I haven't seen or heard any repots? I suppose the aquarium wasn't high on the list of priorities.

[DoYouEverWonder]

31. My husband saw it in one of the news videos

from a helicopter that flew over.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

34. The Audubon Aquarium in NO is okay.

The aquarium that was destroyed was in Biloxi, I think - I saw the video too.

-----

New Orleans Aquarium, Zoo escape Hurricane Katrina
mongabay.com
August 30, 2005

The Audubon Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans apparently survived Hurricane Katrina relatively unscathed according to a report in The Baltimore Sun. Hurricane Katrina hit the Louisiana city Monday.

According to Ron Forman, president of the Audubon Nature Institute that oversees the city's aquarium and zoo, only a few flamingos died and was little other loss of animal life. The Audubon Zoo also fared well in the storm.

Located along the banks of the Mississippi River in the historic French Quarter, the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas has some 10,000 animals and is considerd one of the world's foremost aquariums.

The French Quarter of New Orleans, built on the highest ground in the city, suffered less damage than other neighborhoods.

Widespread power outages have disabled the Audubon Nature Institute and Audubon Aquarium of the Americas web sites.

In neighboring Mississippi, the fate of a group of dolphins moved to Gulfport is unknown. According to The Daily Telegraph, the animals were last seen in a hotel swimming pool, but the storm left the town of 70,000 people under 10 feet (3m) of water.

[DoYouEverWonder]

35. I hope you're right

but even if the structure survived, most of the animals will die pretty soon without electric.

[expatriate]

21. This is very tragic.

I did want to point out though - if a seal is lying there like that, it is likely injured and suffering. Lord knows what kind of poison it might have been in, or if it had come into contact with a power line.

I have had to put down animals in desperate situations. Sometimes it is the only thing that can be done. It is horribly sad and painful, because animals do not understand the whys and wherefores of such situations, and their mute suffering is agonizing. But I think the cops probably did the right thing in this case. There aren't even enough facilities to care for the people who are trapped and stranded, and they would not have had any way to save this obviously seriously injured animal.

[alarimer]

24. It's actually a sea lion

Not to be nitpicky but seals and sea lions are different. Sad though that they had to shoot it. It could bite someone and those wounds are nasty because they carry a lot of bacteria in their saliva.

[Raiden]

29. Who the fuck could do that to a seal?

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

30. With all the desperation and devistation that I saw today, then they

showed this, and it was announced that the sea lion was shot, I turned off the tv. I am so incredibly sad, and my heart hurts.

[Arugula Latte]

32. There is no end to this horror. n/t

[Midlodemocrat]

36. According to this thread, the aquarium is okay.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x3939754